


A Night to Remember

by SegaBarrett



Category: Breaking Bad, Carrie - All Media Types
Genre: Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-03-16 16:26:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3495098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SegaBarrett/pseuds/SegaBarrett
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jesse asks his awkward classmate to prom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Night to Remember

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Breaking Bad or Carrie, and I make no money from this.

Jesse Pinkman rubbed at his face, trying not to fall asleep in Mr. White’s class for the fourth time this week. At least he had shown up the entire week, which was more than he could say for the past few weeks.

He had no idea what Mr. White was even on about today. Apparently it had something to do with molecules, but that was about as much as he could decipher.

Some of the girls off to the side were whispering about some craziness that had happened the day before in gym class. Jesse didn’t know the last time he’d bothered to go to gym.

He caught the name of Carrie White, no relation to Mr. White apparently, who sat at the end of his lab bench and usually kept to herself.

She was a pretty mousy girl, but unlike everybody else, Jesse didn’t have a problem with her. Why would he? He actually felt pretty bad for her, considering how awful people were. He didn’t like most of these assholes either. That was only one of the list of reasons why he barely ever showed up.

“They were all throwing tampons at her. She didn’t even know it was her period.”

Jesse didn’t really know all that much about periods, but they seemed pretty terrifying. His heart started to sink as he heard them going on, not seeming to care if Carrie heard them.

He wished there was something he could do. He didn’t even really know the girl, but these people just seemed like bitches.

The bell rang, and Jesse hopped off his stool.

“Hey,” he called before he could think properly, scampering over to where Carrie was gathering her things. 

She looked up and backed up like a frightened cat; her tail was up.

“Hey, you’re Carrie, right?” Jesse asked.

“Yeah,” she mumbled, looking down.

“I’m Jesse. Where are you off to after this?”

“Study hall,” she whispered. “Out of gym the rest of the week.”

“Yeah, I heard about what happened,” Jesse told her. “Sounds pretty scary. They’re a bunch of assholes. Hey, so… listen… you going to prom at all?”

She shook her head.

“Oh, I don’t do any of that.”

“I wasn’t really planning on it either,” Jesse admitted, “But I was thinking… if you wanted, maybe we could go together.”

“Oh, I don’t…” Carrie started, moving away, “You’re just playing a joke.”

Jesse shook his own head this time.

“That would be mean. I don’t try and be mean. I just, y’know… we might as well go right? I mean, if I even graduate, that is. I think I’ll probably fail everything.”

Carrie looked up at him nervously.

“You… don’t sound that worried about it.”

Jesse shrugged.

“Don’t know what the point would be. I don’t really want to be there anyway. I just want a job where I make fat stacks.” 

Carrie looked confused.

“Fat stacks?” she asked. “What do you mean?”

Jesse smiled.

“Lots of money, you know? Without a lot of work, though. And without school. Seriously, fuck school.”

Carrie let out a nervous giggle, slowly looking around to see if anyone was paying attention to them or, if maybe, Jesse realized sadly, if anyone was going to pop out as part of a joke that Jesse was playing.

It was a little stab to his heart that people would be that cruel. He reminded himself that while he wasn’t perfect, would never be perfect (especially not to his parents, not ever), he would rather cut off his wrist than be like one of those people. Not him, not ever.

“But hey,” Jesse said after a moment of thinking about it, “Like I was saying… Maybe we could go to prom together. No pressure if you don’t want to go…”

“I…I mean I would like to go,” Carrie admitted quietly. “But … what would I wear?”

Jesse grinned.

“Clothes might be a starting point. I mean, I wouldn’t care, but the cops might have something to say about it if either of us show up to prom naked.”

Carrie burst out laughing, seemingly unable to help herself, before covering her mouth with her hand and blushing hard.

“Should I take that as a yes?”

Carrie looked down and around again.

“Yes… no… I don’t think I’d be able to go.”

“What do you mean?” Jesse asked. “Got other plans? I mean, I know it’s just a stupid school dance but I figured that we might as well…”

“I… I…” Carrie choked out, before suddenly turning to go rush away.

Jesse found himself staring after her, feeling bad. He must have really put her on the spot. He also couldn’t forget what he had heard; that her mother was some kind of insanely religious woman who ruled her with an iron grip. 

It was a shame. His own parents didn’t like him very much, and had recently kicked him out to live with his aunt, Jenny. She was dying of cancer, unfortunately, but was also the sweetest woman he had ever known, extremely kind and nurturing in a way that hadn’t seemed to come nearly as easily to his mother when it came to Jesse. 

But Carrie’s situation seemed as if it was a hundred times worse. She seemed terrified to step out of line, terrified not only at whatever the situation at home was, but of the other kids who mocked her endlessly.

Jesse couldn’t imagine being afraid of everyone and everything like that. It seemed like a depressing way to live, a way that would crush anyone’s will to actually go do anything at all. 

He felt like that was a profound kind of thought to have; not that it would necessarily help him figure out what he was meant to really do about any of it. It seemed like there wasn’t an easy answer, as much as he had assumed that the prom invite might be one. He might just have to try something else; but he wasn’t going to give up – he was nothing if not stubborn.

He needed to help the kid. How was he going to, though? He didn’t even seem much good at helping himself. He was well on his way to dropping out, after all, and he didn’t even live at home with the parents who had too-high standards, so what could she tell Carrie about her own family?

Something, probably. As bad as his parents were, at least they would have let him go to prom, right?

Jesse started to walk home, pulling a joint from his pocket once he had cleared the school parking lot. He lit it while still walking. One time Mr. White had caught him and he’d gotten a hell of a lecture. He didn’t want that to happen again. Why was that old asshole giving him a hard time, anyway, when there was seriously real shit going on with some of these other kids?

Like Carrie. That poor kid was probably getting the shit kicked out of her by her mother, not to mention the other kids treated her like a punching bag. But he hadn’t seen old ass Mr. White come to her rescue, not once.

***

Jesse got into class early the next day; albeit, early for him was being only five minutes late instead of twenty. Carrie was already there, as was most of the rest of the class. She was reading a book quietly, seeming to want to shrink into the background and seeming like a little teeny mouse that was frightened to even exist.

It was breaking Jesse’s heart, like the saddest movie he had ever seen.

“Hi, Carrie,” he spoke up as he took the empty seat next to her. 

She whirled around, looking panicked.

“Jesse!” 

A few people turned and snickered at her, and Jesse glared. Why couldn’t people learn how to mind their own damn business? He was starting to already regret doing this here. He should have tried to get her alone again, but that was probably going to prove to be near impossible.

“Yo, Carrie, listen… I know you said you don’t want to go, and that’s cool if you don’t want to, I totally understand so I’ll leave you alone if you really don’t want to go…” Jesse sighed, thinking to himself that he was sounding really pathetic right about now. But Carrie’s refusal seemed to be pretty targeted. Maybe he just needed to get through to her.  
Carrie looked down.

“I do want to go… but I… I don’t think Mama would let me.”

“Carrie, how old are you?”

“Seventeen,” she offered quietly.

“Then that’s only one more year of listening to what your mother says, so why not start early? It’s just a dance, it isn’t an orgy.” A few people around them snickered meanly, and Jesse rounded on them. “Yo, man, you wanna shut the fuck up? In ten years you’re gonna be cleaning her limo at the fucking car wash like the little bitches you are.”

That didn’t particularly stop them, but it did cause a tiny smile to cross Carrie’s face. Maybe she was realizing that he wasn’t all bad, that he wasn’t going to make this one last way to make fun of her before they were out of school together.

“And if you don’t want to do prom, maybe we could hang out some other time. If you wanted, y’know. I’m not exactly a hot commodity like some of these folks out here.” He glared around again, but everyone seemed to be growing tired of the spectacle, particularly Mr. White.

Carrie looked down and she mumbled something that Jesse couldn’t quite here. He looked at her, hopefully, the thought crossing his mind that maybe this little tiny thing would balance out how much of a pain in the ass he had become over the past few years, the strain he was on Aunt Jenny and the shame he was to his parents. He could at least look back and say that he made this shy girl feel good about herself, couldn’t he? Even if she said no.

“I’d like to go,” she said softly. “I… I’ll go with you, okay?”

Jesse grinned widely and pumped his fist.

“That’s awesome! I’ll pick you up at 8!”

“I… I’ll need a dress and…” Carrie murmured.

Jesse moved back and forth on the balls of his feet.

“Unfortunately… I’m not going to be able to help you out on that one. I’m not exactly well-versed in dresses. But why don’t you ask one of the lady teachers? They all like you, I’m sure… I mean, you don’t cause trouble or nothing.”

“Unlike you, Mr. Pinkman,” Mr. White spoke up. “Will you please stop carrying on your personal conversation in my classroom and return to your seat?”

Jesse rolled his eyes, but he did sit back down in his seat. Carrie blushed, but Mr. White didn’t say anything to her. Jesse figured that maybe he was just happy that she was talking to anyone at all, or maybe he felt weird about calling out someone in class who had the same last name as him. Maybe people would think they were related or something. 

***

Jesse walked by the next day and knocked on Carrie’s door, as much as he realized that that probably wasn’t a very good idea given what he knew about her family life.

An older woman came to the door and opened it, glaring at him furiously.

“Who are you? What do you want?”

“Hi, uh, Mrs. White?” Jesse inquired. “I was looking for Carrie.”

“What business does Carrie have with you? Who are you?”

“My name is Jesse Pinkman, ma’am. I live down the block. I was just uh… coming to see if she’s all right. There was a thing a couple days ago, the kids are kind of mean to her and she needs…”

“You don’t need to tell me what my daughter needs, you hoodlum.”

“Hoodlum?” Jesse asked, amused. Who even used that word anymore? He straightened up a little bit, however, and decided to try to seem a little bit more respectable. It wasn’t something that he was particularly good at, however. “Mrs. White, uh, maybe we just got off to the wrong foot? I’d like to talk to Carrie and I don’t… I don’t wanna hurt her, or hurt her feelings or anything like that.” He decided to pull out a phrase he had only heard in old movies, the kind of movies where people talked about other people being hoodlums. “My intentions are all honorable.”

She looked at him as if he had just told her that chickens were falling from the sky or something.

“CARRIE!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “Some heathen is here to see you.”

A moment later, a harried Carrie appeared at the door. 

“Jesse, hi, hey,” she looked at her mother. “Please just… I just need to talk to him for just a moment.” The woman glared daggers at her, and Jesse considered calling someone. But who would he call? CYS or something? Would a foster home be even worse, or would they maybe not do anything at all?

And who would even listen to anything that Jesse said to them? He knew he had a reputation for sounding like an idiot, and it wasn’t like he knew all kinds of state regulations to tell them which ones Carrie’s mother was breaking. But something was very wrong here, he knew that much. At least she would be graduating soon, and maybe he could help her. Maybe he could help her find a place; or maybe she could even help out with Aunt Jenny for some money or stay in a spare room or something. Aunt Jenny liked everyone. She was always encouraging Jesse to be more open-minded. How had this girl slipped under his radar this whole time? Why hadn’t he realized how much she was suffering? He figured that maybe he had just been off in his own little world. It was easy to get caught up in how he wanted his own life to be, how he wanted to be free of all of the obligations of being eighteen while still being treated like a kid, being some high schooler who was treated as if he had no idea how to run his own life.

The woman finally stepped back a bit, then disappeared from view, and Jesse let out a sigh of relief.

“So, what are we going to do for the dance? Do you have a dress and everything? I’m renting a tux.” He grinned at her, trying to ignore all that was going through his head. This might just be another situation that he would have no way of fixing. All he could do was try and make the prom actually be a decent day for this poor, lost kid. Even more lost than he was. 

She looked down.

“A dress? I… I’m working on it. I’m thinking… of making my own. I don’t really have a lot of money to buy one. I don’t…want to waste money.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be a waste, whether you make it or buy it or whatever. You can wear it for other stuff, right?” Jesse offered, even though he had no idea what girls did with prom dresses after prom was over. As far as he knew, they might sacrifice those dresses to Satan or something. 

Carrie looked at him sheepishly and shrugged noncommittally.

“See you at seven?” Jesse prompted.

“At seven,” Carrie echoed. 

***

“Look at my nephew. All grown up,” Aunt Jenny said happily as she helped Jesse smooth out the collar of his tux. “Never thought I would see the day. It seems like just yesterday you were sitting in your parents’ backyard and eating mud.”

Jesse laughed.

“Actual mud?” he inquired. She nodded.

“Oh, definitely. Luckily, it doesn’t seem to have done any lasting damage. I was a little worried that it would stunt your growth or something. Now the smoking, on the other hand – that’ll do it. So you need to cut that out.”

Jesse looked down.

“Well, I’ll try, I guess. I can’t make any promises. It’s a pretty hard addiction to beat.”

Jenny leaned in and kissed him on the forehead.

“Now, you better not take advantage of this poor girl, Jesse. You had better be kind to her. I knew her mother when she was in school and boy… that woman was something else. But, you know, it’s all upbringing. I’m not sure what her own parents were like, but they weren’t quite right, I’m sure. Otherwise they would have tried to steer Margaret in a different direction. They would have at least tried.”

“Maybe they did try,” Jesse said, “And maybe they just… couldn’t do anything. Maybe some people are just born wrong and there’s nothing you can do about it.” He wasn’t talking about Carrie or Margaret, not anymore. He was wondering where his own parents were right now, if his name was on their lips or in their minds or if they’d erased him entirely. If he was some sort of unperson, some person whose name it was forbidden to speak. He wondered if Jake would even know who he was, if he would grow up thinking he was an only child. “Sometimes… some people are just past it.”

“You’re not past it, Jesse,” Jenny told him quietly. “I’ve always known who you really are, and who you really are is good. It’s just… everyone goes through a phase when they’re a kid. That’s part of being a kid. But by the time parents get, well, to be parents… they forget about it. It’s kind of selective amnesia. I guarantee you that your mother wasn’t a saint when she was your age, so she can’t really hold it over your head the way she seems to want to.”

Jesse smiled.

“Oh really? What did she do?”

Jenny put a finger to her lips.

“That’s between she and I, Jesse. Sisters have a special bond with each other. You can’t break it.”

“But she never even talks to you anymore. It’s like she just doesn’t want to…”

“Accept that I’m going to be gone?” Jenny prompted, and Jesse looked down at the ground. “Jesse, I know what’s going on. And I don’t mind talking about it. I have to. But your mother… I don’t think she’s ready to go on without her sister just yet… So she doesn’t want to think about it at all.”

Jesse looked away from her.

“I’d better go pick up Carrie, I guess,” he mumbled, “Don’t wait up for me, okay? I’ll probably be pretty late. There’s an… afterprom, and everything.”

“Remember what I said, Jesse. If you take that girl to a hotel or anything crazy like that…”

Jesse crossed his hands over his thighs.

“I wouldn’t! I mean, not unless she wanted me to. I mean actually wanted me to, came out and said it and everything. She ought to have at least one normal day in her life.”  
Jenny shook her head.

“That’s throwing on a Harley when she hasn’t ridden a bicycle, Jesse,” she warned. “If that girl wants you to do that with her… really wants you to, it won’t be tonight. Give her time, a lot of time, and make sure you’re doing it because you love her, not because you’re just trying to be nice.”

Jesse sighed, leaned in and kissed his aunt on the cheek.

“Okay. I promise.” He turned and walked towards the door. “After all, it’s not like tonight is the last night of my life.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Uncommon Chemistry (The Delayed Reaction remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12045675) by [Lady_Ganesh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Ganesh/pseuds/Lady_Ganesh)




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